She agrees that the pattern may represent a subgroup of people who lived along the now-underwater Bering land bridge, in a region known as Beringia, for thousands of years before crossing into the Americas.

In addition, the complex refugial history of Beringia (Hopkins 1967, Kaufman and Manley 2004), coupled with uncertainties in mutation rates (Lovette 2004, Weir and Schluter 2008), make precise correlation of these species' divergence with a particular glacial cycle unlikely.

These hypotheses are not mutually exclusive, and POWV or closely related TBE serogroup viruses may be endemic to Beringia, the region surrounding the Bering Strait that connects Asia and North America.

Through its Ocean Giants Program and Arctic Beringia Program -- a transboundary initiative that works closely with scientists, government agencies, indigenous groups and others from North America and the Russian Federation, -- WCS is working to strengthen Arctic research and governance efforts, while evaluating the potential impacts of disappearing sea ice and increased anthropogenic activities, such as shipping, on whales, walrus, and other marine wildlife, as well as the indigenous communities that have lived in the region for millennia.

Then, around 15,000 years ago, up in the far northwestern corner of North America, small bands of humans dressed in the furs of their prey slowly make their way across Beringia and into Alaska before the rising seas drown the ice age land bridge behind them.

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